THROOP, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 A Lake Ariel man is facing a felony charge and numerous other offenses after Pennsylvania State Police say he led troopers on a high-speed chase through Throop before driving a pickup truck over a dike and into the Lackawanna River.<\/p>\n
According to a criminal complaint, Thomas Oscar Matt Flood, of Lake Ariel, was charged following the incident shortly after midnight on Aug. 7. Police said the pursuit began near Marshwood Road and Keystone Industrial Park Road in Throop.<\/p>\n
Trooper Kevin Gumble wrote in an affidavit that he and another trooper were traveling on Marshwood Road around 12:29 a.m. when they spotted a black Dodge pickup traveling partly on the shoulder. Police said the truck later crossed the double-yellow centerline and had an inoperable driver’s-side brake light.<\/p>\n
When troopers activated their emergency lights and siren, Flood allegedly accelerated instead of stopping.<\/p>\n
Police said Flood ran a stop sign and continued onto Sanderson Street, crossing into the opposite lane and failing to stop at additional stop signs. Investigators allege the pickup reached 76 mph in a posted 25 mph zone.<\/p>\n
The pursuit eventually reached the dead end of Sanderson Street, where police say Flood drove over a dike, passed a sign prohibiting motor vehicles, traveled down an embankment and drove the pickup into the Lackawanna River.<\/p>\n
According to the affidavit, Flood climbed out of the truck and then ran across the river as troopers pursued him through the water and up the opposite embankment. A trooper caught up with Flood following a short foot chase.<\/p>\n
Police allege Flood initially refused commands to get on the ground and later refused to give officers his hands. Troopers used a stun device before taking him into custody.<\/p>\n
Investigators said Flood had bloodshot and watery eyes and smelled strongly of alcohol. According to the affidavit, Flood allegedly told troopers he was drunk, had been drinking at a bar and fled because he was on parole and did not want to return to jail.<\/p>\n
Police also allege the pickup displayed a fraudulent inspection sticker and did not have valid proof of insurance.<\/p>\n
Flood is charged with felony fleeing or attempting to elude police, along with DUI, resisting arrest, recklessly endangering another person and other offenses. The complaint also includes numerous traffic violations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THROOP, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 A Lake Ariel man is facing a felony charge and numerous other offenses…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-262759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}